Israellycool

Down Under Punditry in the Middle East

Archive for May, 2007

Interesting Advertisement Placement

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
picture%20placement1 Interesting Advertisement Placement
 
Taken from here (but the advertisement is dynamic, so you may not get the same one I did).
Spread the Word:
  • E-mail this story to a friend!
  • Digg
  • TwitThis
  • Fark
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Wikio
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Reddit
  • NewsVine
  • YahooMyWeb
  • Google
  • SphereIt
Sphere: Related Content

No tags for this post.

Blogging the Conflict: May 31st, 2007

Thursday, May 31st, 2007
kassam%20crying Blogging the Conflict: May 31st, 2007Unlike yesterday, there have already been a number of Qassams that have landed in Israel. So far, there have been no reports of injuries or damage, although it is being reported that another victim has succumbed to wounds he received last week, making him the 11th victim of Qassam rocket fire, and the 3rd in this current period of intensified attacks that commenced over 2 weeks ago. The victim, 13-year-old Chai Shalom, was a deaf mute, who was confined to a wheelchair, and who sustained his injuries after a Qassam landed next to a bus transporting him and 3 other disabled children.
 
Meanwhile, the IAF has launched attacks against 2 Qassam rocket launchers in northern Gaza (including one of the sites used earlier today to launch a Qassam towards Israel), and has arrested 8 wanted palestinians in the West Bank.
 
In other news, South Africa’s largest trade union is seeking to follow in the morally bankrupt footsteps of the Britain’s University and College Union and demand a boycott of Israel, and the Home Front Command plans to launch a publicity campaign to prepare the public for war. Oh joy.
 

 
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
Latest updates here.

11:50PM: The missing soldier (10:52PM update) has been found alive and well.

11:20PM: Hamas are claiming that they  have not launched a rocket in 48 hours, and that the rockets fired into Israel during this period were fired by other groups such as Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).

10:52PM: Ynet reports that an 18-year-old female IDF soldier has been missing since this morning. 

8:20PM: Random thoughts on the utter stupidity of the UCU’s vote to promote a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.

  • If UK academic institutions do sever ties with their Israeli counterparts, they will be missing out on collaborating with world experts in pretty much all fields. Israel will be missing out on collaborating with a bunch of clueless and pompous nickenpoops with bad dental hygeine.
  • If UK academics want to protest occupation, how about they start with their own country, which is one of the most prolific countries in the world when it comes to the number of other counties occupied.
  • There are many Israeli academics who lie on the Left side of the political spectrum, and would agree with many of the contentions put forward by their British colleagues.
  • 8:00PM: Take that! An American research foundation that supports scientists around the world in the quest for a cure for brain cancer funds research has cancelled its plans to open a grant application process for UK researchers.
    In a letter to British academic institutions, foundation leader Elizabeth Goldhirsh writes: ” As a director of a $150 million foundation that supports scientists around the world in the quest for a cure for brain cancer, I am profoundly disappointed in your union’s decision to boycott Israel today.

    “This action represents a severe setback for academic freedom and open discourse. Moreover, the decision to single out and demonize Israel above and beyond all other countries - remaining silent over Russia’s brutal occupation in Chechnya, for example, or China’s ongoing oppression of Tibet - is, at best, troubling. At worst, it points to a far more sinister and tragic motivation.

    “Equally disturbing is to do so at a time when Israel’s civilians are facing near-daily missile attacks from Gaza and her partner for negotiations is an organization that dispatches suicide bombers and refuses to recognize the Jewish State’s right to exist.

    “Given this decision, I am deeply saddened to say that while my foundation had been considering opening up our scientific grant process to British researchers we will no longer be able to do so. I urge you to work against this boycott and restore learning’s highest ideal of fairness free of prejudice to British academia.”

    6:25PM: More on the Helen Mirren update (5:50PM):
    Oscar-winner Helen Mirren is being lined up to star in a film set in the Gaza Strip, as a woman whose journalist daughter falls in love with a Palestinian and is killed, the company making the film said Thursday.
     
    The film, described by Left Bank Picture head Andy Harries as more human interest than political, is expected to be shot in Jordan because the fighting between rival factions in Gaza.
    6:05PM: Education Minister Yuli Tamir writes about the British Academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
     
    Excerpt:
    There is considerable irony in the fact that now of all times, while Qassam rockets are raining down on Sderot schools and on Sapir College, not only does Britain’s University and College Union (UCU) not find it appropriate to express its support for Israeli students forced to endure incessant life-threatening attacks ‚Äì but it has also chosen this particular time to announce its call for a boycott of Israel’s academic institutions.
    5:55PM: A couple of Qassams fell in Israel over an hour ago, bringing today’s tally to 4.
     
    5:50PM: Qassams Boycotts in the air, everywhere I look around: Now the UK’s public services union UNISON is considering a proposal for imposing a boycott on Israel.
     
    And still on the subject of the UK, Oscar-winner Helen Mirren is lined up to star in a film set in Gaza. I wonder if it also stars Vanessa Redgrave.
     
    11:00AM: The IAF has struck another Qassam-launching area.
      
    10:30AM: An IAF Skyhawk warplane has crashed into the sea near Ashdod, with the pilot ejecting to safety.
    Spread the Word:
    • E-mail this story to a friend!
    • Digg
    • TwitThis
    • Fark
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Wikio
    • StumbleUpon
    • del.icio.us
    • Reddit
    • NewsVine
    • YahooMyWeb
    • Google
    • SphereIt
    Sphere: Related Content

    Tags: Middle East Conflict

    Connections

    Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

    Former slacker turned Islamic wacker, Adam Gadahn, has appeared in an internet video, warning of worse attacks on his birthplace the US.

    The United States will face worse attacks than those on September 11, 2001 if it does not heed al Qaeda demands effectively allowing the group control over Muslim countries, a U.S. Islamist militant said on Tuesday.

    Adam Gadahn, a California-born convert to Islam and the first American to be charged with treason since the World War Two era, appeared in a video posted on the Internet. Gadahn, wearing robes and a turban, is believed to be in Pakistan.

    “Your failure to meet our demands … means that you and your people will, Allah willing, experience things which will make you forget about the horrors of September 11, Afghanistan and Iraq, and Virginia Tech,” said the bearded Gadahn, addressing his comments to President George W. Bush.

    Gadahn was referring to the Virginia Tech campus shooting rampage last month in which student gunman Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and himself.

    “This is not a call for negotiations. We do not negotiate with baby killers and war criminals like you,” said Gadahn.

    “You will go down in history not only as the president who embroiled his nation in a series of unwinnable and bloody conflicts in the Islamic world but as the president who set the United States up on its death march.”

    Listing al Qaeda’s demands, Gadahn said: “Pull every last one of your soldiers… out of every Muslim land. If so much as one single U.S. soldier or spy remain on Islamic soil it shall be considered sufficient justification for us to continue our defensive jihad against your nation and people.”

    Gadahn demanded the United States end all support “moral, military, economic or otherwise to the bastard state of Israel and ban your citizens … from traveling to occupied Palestine or settling there”.

    The demands also included releasing all Muslim prisoners and stopping support to the “apostate” governments of Muslim states.

    He said a U.S. pullout from Iraq alone would not do.

    “Things are not going too well for your crusader coalition,” Gadahn said of U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    “We will continue to strike hard this year, next year, the year after that and so on until the last crusader goes home, whether waving a white flag or lying in a flag-covered casket.”

    Last year, an indictment delivered by a grand jury in a federal court in California accused Gadahn of making a series of al Qaeda propaganda videos. The treason charge against him carries a maximum punishment of death.

    The FBI has been seeking to question Gadahn since May 2004, and the U.S. government has offered up to $1 million in reward money for information leading to his arrest.

    Gadahn converted to Islam from a Jewish-Christian family when he was 17 and a few years later moved to Pakistan. He was previously known as Adam Pearlman and grew up on a goat ranch outside Los Angeles.

    Here’s the video:


    What I want to know is whether Gadahn’s mention of Virginia Tech in the same sentence as September 11, Afghanistan and Iraq, will revive theories of an Ismail Ax - Islamic terror connection.

    I’m also wondering whether there is any connection between his childhood on a goat ranch, and his becoming an Islamic terrorist.

    Spread the Word:
    • E-mail this story to a friend!
    • Digg
    • TwitThis
    • Fark
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Wikio
    • StumbleUpon
    • del.icio.us
    • Reddit
    • NewsVine
    • YahooMyWeb
    • Google
    • SphereIt
    Sphere: Related Content

    Tags: Terrorism

    El Presidente

    Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
    The IHT reports on Shimon Peres’ Presidential bid.
    Vice Premier Shimon Peres announced his candidacy Wednesday for president of Israel, an office tarnished by rape and other sexual misconduct allegations against its current occupant, Moshe Katsav.
    I’m guessing this picture from today isn’t going to help his chances.
     
    peres%20kiss El Presidente
    Spread the Word:
    • E-mail this story to a friend!
    • Digg
    • TwitThis
    • Fark
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Wikio
    • StumbleUpon
    • del.icio.us
    • Reddit
    • NewsVine
    • YahooMyWeb
    • Google
    • SphereIt
    Sphere: Related Content

    Tags: Photograph

    Blogging the Conflict: May 30th, 2007

    Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
    more%20guns Blogging the Conflict: May 30th, 2007
    For the first time in over 2 weeks, I begin my daily liveblogging with news that no Qassams have fallen into Israel today. While I hope it remains this way, this is not likely, especially given the statement by Hamas’ Damascus-based political leader Khaled Meshal, that Hamas intends to continue its attacks on Israel despite the IDF operations in the Gaza Strip. However, it seems that there is a dispute among the Hamas military wing leadership over whether or not to continue the Qassam fire, with some ordering their terrorist underlings to cease firing rockets at Israel due to their losses in IAF air strikes, while others not wanting to let this get in the way of killing more Jews. 
     
    Speaking of IAF strikes, there was a good one this morning, with the IAF striking a group of Hamas gunners firing rockets at Israel, killing 2 of them. And overnight, the IDF arrested 12 palestinian fugitives, including 6 Fatah operatives, 2 Hamasholes, and an Islamic Jihad member for good measure.
     
    In other news, Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu has lamented the harm inflicted on Israel’s deterrent capability resulting from the Second Lebanon War, and in another display of moral bankruptcy, British academics are yet again set to vote on an academic boycott of Israel.
     

     
    Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
     
    Latest updates here.
    12:02AM: Another likely case of premature detonation.

    11:25PM: A Qassam rocket has hit a high-voltage electricity pole and landed on a building in Sderot. Luckily, the residents of the house were inside a protected room and remained unharmed.

    9:15PM: Ynetnews reports that the UN Security Council has called on palestinians to stop firing rockets into Israel, noting:

    Unlike previous statements made by the council, calling on both Israel and the Palestinians to cease fire, Wednesday’s statement did not call for a bilateral ceasefire, but rather for curbing of clashes in Gaza and the firing of rockets at Israel.
    Be that as it may, it isn’t exactly a condemnation either, and we all know the Security Council isn’t afraid to dish those out.

    9:00PM: It’s academic: While palestinian terrorists fire rockets at innocent civilians in Israel, and Israel refrains from any major military operation, Britain’s University and College Union (UCU) has voted in favor of a motion calling for a European academic boycott of Israel, in protest of Israel’s policy regarding the palestinians.

    You know, the policy of not laying down to die.

    5:25PM: Via Noam Bedein comes this footage of a Qassam fired at Sderot from the roof of a home in the Gaza village of Beit Hanoun.
     

     
    Still, there seems to be no outcry from palestinian civilians against these terrorists.
     
    12:35PM: A Qassam (the 4th of the day) has hit a house in Sderot. No injuries have been reported.
     
    11:40PM: The first Qassams of the day landed in Israel over half an hour ago.
     
    10:28AM: Ynetnews has an interesting article about a brave palestinian man who now lives in Sderot, due to his assisting Israel against terrorists. The article includes this quote from the man:
    “There is only one solution to this situation ‚Äì a ground incursion into Gaza which will wipe out the cells launching the rockets, stay there and not leave until it’s over”
    Spread the Word:
    • E-mail this story to a friend!
    • Digg
    • TwitThis
    • Fark
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Wikio
    • StumbleUpon
    • del.icio.us
    • Reddit
    • NewsVine
    • YahooMyWeb
    • Google
    • SphereIt
    Sphere: Related Content

    Tags: Middle East Conflict

    Blogging the Conflict: May 29th, 2007

    Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
    terrorists%20press%20conference Blogging the Conflict: May 29th, 2007
    After yesterday’s tally of 17 Qassam rockets fired into Israel, today’s tally has been initiated with the firing of a Qassam earlier this morning.
     
    Meanwhile, IDF operations against the terrorists have continued, with the IAF firing missiles at a Hamas building, IDF troops killing 2 Hamasholes and arresting 2 more during a gunbattle in Gaza, and IDF troops in Nablus arresting 12 other wanted terrorists (including a palestinian parliament member from ”moderate” Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction.
     

     
    Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
     
    Latest updates here.
    11:30PM: This Ha’aretz report contradicts the 3:50PM update regarding little Khaled.

    10:57PM: According to palestinian sources in Tulkarm, IDF troops are currently surrounding a building where a wanted member of the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades is hiding.

    “Moderate” Mahmoud’s boys are really in the thick of the action today, aren’t they.

    8:15PM: Looks like we also got an al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades leader, while wounding 4 other terrorists. Meanwhile, the terrorists killed earlier (see previous update) were apparently victims of a work accident involving premature detonation.

    6:00PM: Ha’aretz reports that palestinian sources are claiming 3 Jihad terrorists have been killed in a Gaza City blast.

     
    5:52PM: The IAF has struck a Hamas training camp in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. How many of these things do Hamas have anyway?
     
    5:36PM: Here’s Israeli Prime Minister Olmert saying something with which I actually agree:
    Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday blamed Palestinian extremism for being primarily responsible for the suffering of Gaza Strip residents.
     
    “Gaza residents are the victims of extremism and leaders who are willing to shed their blood and deprive them of the right to live in peace and security,” said Olmert, during a Knesset event honoring the local authorities.
    3:50PM: Yesterday, I reported on the capture of senior terrorist Khaled Shawish. WND has the details of his capture, which reveal that he was undone by little Khaled.
    rocking Blogging the Conflict: May 29th, 2007Israel today arrested a longtime wanted terror leader here in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
     
    According to Israeli security officials and Palestinian sources in Ramallah speaking to WND, the terrorist was arrested while having car sex just a few hundred feet from late PLO leader Yasser Arafat’s gravesite.
     
    Khaled Shawish, an officer in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Force 17 presidential guards, was captured by undercover Israeli police forces following scores of shooting attacks he is suspected of carrying out. Shawish, who doubles as the Ramallah chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, previously boasted of involvement in a West Bank shooting attack in December 2000 that killed Israeli ultranationalist leader Benjamin Kahane and Kahane’s wife, Talya.
     
    The Brigades is the declared “military wing” of Abbas’ Fatah party.
    After the Kahane murder, Shawish was extended refuge by Arafat to live in the late PLO leader’s Ramallah compound, widely known as the Muqata. Arafat is buried at the entrance to the Muqata.
     
    Shawish continued the past seven years to live in the Muqata, from which, according to Israeli security officials, he directed the Brigades to carry out scores of shootings against Israelis driving on West Bank roads.
     
    Several years ago Shawish sustained an injury during a gun battle with the Israel Defense Forces and has since been confined to a wheelchair, although he is still able to drive.
    And apparently shtup.
    According to Israeli security officials and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades sources in Ramallah, Shawish was arrested after the Israeli police stormed his jeep, which was parked in a lot outside the Muqata, about 200 feet from Arafat’s grave. The sources said at the time of his arrest, Shawish was having intercourse in the back seat of his jeep with a Palestinian woman, whose identity is being withheld by WND. The woman was not his wife.
    Assuming he stays in prison and is not released speedily in a misguided “goodwill gesture”, his new wife could very well be a fellow prisoner (Abu Bubba?)
     
    3:27PM: We have been focusing much on the current disunity and disharmony within the palestinian controlled territories. But there are instances of cooperation:
    A joint group of the National Resistance Brigades, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed of Fatah, claimed responsibility on Tuesday for launching two homemade projectiles at the Sufa crossing, located east of Rafah between the southern Gaza Strip and Israel.
    Awwwww. Isn’t it heartwarming when everyone gets along?
     
    2:53PM: Another Qassam landed near Sderot over half an hour ago.
     
    1:42PM: Prime Minister Olmert and palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are to meet next week, to discuss “security issues.”
    Spread the Word:
    • E-mail this story to a friend!
    • Digg
    • TwitThis
    • Fark
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Wikio
    • StumbleUpon
    • del.icio.us
    • Reddit
    • NewsVine
    • YahooMyWeb
    • Google
    • SphereIt
    Sphere: Related Content

    Tags: Middle East Conflict

    Quote of the Day

    Monday, May 28th, 2007

    simmons Quote of the DayIn terms of this Republican administration, some views about stem cell

    research, gay rights, separation of church and state, and on and on—I

    don’t agree with any of them. But you can worry about the trees and the

    environment and gas emissions later. Right now there’s a bigger

    problem, and it’s a guy who doesn’t care if you’re a Republican or a

    Democrat; he wants to blow himself up and take you out. That’s the

    problem. I think racially profiling anybody from the Middle East …

    the Swiss have been good this year, and as an Israeli, I want you to

    look at me first. I want you to search my anal cavity and look at my

    tax records. I want you to look at me first, and then at every guy

    named Muhammad.

    - KISS front man Gene Simmons

    Spread the Word:
    • E-mail this story to a friend!
    • Digg
    • TwitThis
    • Fark
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Wikio
    • StumbleUpon
    • del.icio.us
    • Reddit
    • NewsVine
    • YahooMyWeb
    • Google
    • SphereIt
    Sphere: Related Content

    Tags: Quotes

    To Liveblog Or Not To Liveblog

    Monday, May 28th, 2007

    For the past 2 weeks, I have been liveblogging the events here in Israel, to my knowledge the only English-speaking Israeli blogger to do so consistently. Given the escalation in the situation, I figured that readers would be interested in more regular posting on events “almost” as they happen, much like during the Second Lebanon War last Summer.

    However, I have reached the point where I am not sure if I should continue. Given my relative lack of time, I will only continue if I perceive a real need or want for this liveblogging. The issue is the usual one - lack of feedback. My traffic has remained more or less constant, and I have received hardly any comments, leading me to conclude that this liveblogging is not really wanted or needed.

    I therefore ask you dear readers - should I continue liveblogging the current events in Israel?

    Please leave your feedback in the comments. A lack of feedback to this question will be construed as a no!

    Update: The liveblogging will continue until I come to a decision based on the feedback. So you can still scroll down for the latest news.

    Spread the Word:
    • E-mail this story to a friend!
    • Digg
    • TwitThis
    • Fark
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Wikio
    • StumbleUpon
    • del.icio.us
    • Reddit
    • NewsVine
    • YahooMyWeb
    • Google
    • SphereIt
    Sphere: Related Content

    No tags for this post.

    Blogging the Conflict: May 28th, 2007

    Monday, May 28th, 2007
    medics Blogging the Conflict: May 28th, 2007The daily ritual of being host to Qassam rockets has already started, with 3 being fired at Israel this morning. This brings the tally for the past 2 weeks to almost 250.
     
    Of course, Hamas say they will stop firing them at us if we accept a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and halt our attacks on Hamas. By ceasefire, they mean a temporary period in which they replenish and rearm, and by Israel’s attacks, they mean the actions we initiated only after Hamas and other assorted terror groups fired barrage after barrage of Qassams at civilian areas. And if that didn’t make sense, then you probably understood it correctly.
     
    Yesterday, Prime Minister Olmert apparently listened to those who know more than he does (unlike during the Second Lebanon War), and decided to continue pinpoint attacks against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, adding that our operations in the Gaza Strip are not contingent on the behavior of the terrorist organizations. On that note, the IAF launched a number of strikes overnight, IDF soldiers reportedly shot and critically wounded 2 Hamas gunmen who had shot mortars toward Israel, as well as nabbed 8 wanted palestinian terror suspects (including 4 Hamasholes) in raids across the West Bank overnight.
     
    In other news, the Education Ministry rejected a request from Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal to end the school year in the town immediately, Israel transferred an 8-day-old palestinian baby with a heart defect from Gaza to Tel Hashomer, and the Labor primaries are underway, with former PM Ehud Barak telling voters he is the best candidate to lead Israel during war.
     

     
    Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
     
    Latest updates here.
    11:30PM: According to palestinian sources in Gaza, the IAF has attacked a Hamas outpost in Beit Lahiya, as well as a building in Beit Hanoun.

    11:16PM: Be sure to check out Backspin’s Sderot Stories You Might Have Missed.

    9:30PM: Let’s check up on the Labor primaries for a minute….you know what they say: two Jews, three opinions. Well, according to Ha’aretz:

    Exit polls by two of Israel’s major television channels predicted different outcomes in the Labor Party leadership primary Monday, with Channel 1 giving former prime minister Ehud Barak a narrow lead over main rival Ami Ayalon, and Channel 2 saying that Ayalon had forged far ahead of Barak.
    Ok, so it’s more like: two channels, two opinions, but you get the point.

    7:40PM: Khaled Shawish, a senior terrorist with the (Fatah-affiliated) al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, has been arrested in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation in Ramallah. Shawish was behind the shootting attack that killed Rabbi Binyamin Ze’ev Kahane (son of Rabbi Meir Kahane), and his wife Talia in 2002, as well as dozens of other attacks that left a total of 5 Israelis dead and dozens wounded.

    7:33PM: Ynetnews reports that at today’s funeral for Oshri Oz, the 36-year-old Israeli who was killed in yesterday’s Qassam attack on Sderot, his pregnant widow collapsed and was treated by paramedics. When the procession began, she insisted on walking behind the stretcher carrying her husband‚Äôs body, despite pleas that she board an ambulance.

    7:30PM: Today’s Qassam tally now stands at 11, including 2 that landed in a kibbutz wheat field and caused a fire, and one that wounded a man.

     
    3:55PM: Let’s check up on the Hamas-Fatah ceasefire, which, last time we looked, was not going so well.
    Hamas gunmen opened fire at a jeep carrying members of the Palestinian Presidential Guard in the Gaza strip. The car sustained damage.
     
    Following the incident, sporadic clashes between Fatah and Hamas were renewed.
    They can’t even keep a ceasefire amongst themselves; no wonder they can never keep one with Israel.
     
    1:18PM: A Qassam has landed near Sderot, with no injuries being reported.
     
    10:30AM: Ynetnews reports that a group of female soldiers standing next to where the Qassam rocket fell in Sderot have suffered shock.
     
    10:00AM: This morning’s tally of Qassams is now at least 7. Ha’aretz reports that one of them struck the local cemetery and another landed in the area of horse stables. There was no immediate word on any injuries or damage, nor any condemnation from PETA.
    Spread the Word:
    • E-mail this story to a friend!
    • Digg
    • TwitThis
    • Fark
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Wikio
    • StumbleUpon
    • del.icio.us
    • Reddit
    • NewsVine
    • YahooMyWeb
    • Google
    • SphereIt
    Sphere: Related Content

    Tags: Middle East Conflict

    Breaking News

    Saturday, May 26th, 2007

    I interrupt my liveblogging to report that Suha Arafat has been assassinated by a Zionist agent.

    hog Breaking News
    Spread the Word:
    • E-mail this story to a friend!
    • Digg
    • TwitThis
    • Fark
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Wikio
    • StumbleUpon
    • del.icio.us
    • Reddit
    • NewsVine
    • YahooMyWeb
    • Google
    • SphereIt
    Sphere: Related Content

    No tags for this post.

    Blogging the Conflict: May 26th-27th, 2007

    Saturday, May 26th, 2007
    ambulance Blogging the Conflict: May 26th-27th, 2007The breaking news is that 2 palestinian terrorists have shot 4 Israeli security guards in East Jerusalem. The guards have reportedly sustained moderate to severe injuries in the attack, while the gunmen have been shot dead. The al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades - the military wing of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party - has claimed responsibility.

    Earlier in the day, palestinian terrorists fired at least 5 Qassams into Israel, with 2 hitting Sderot - one of them destroying a house - and three rockets landing south of Ashkelon. There were no casualties reported, although one man did suffer from shock.

    Meanwhile, the IAF struck multiple Hamas targets today, including Hamas installations, a training camp, training base, and a compound, killing 5 terrorists and wounding at least 30. Hamas have warned Israel that further strikes against their military or political leadership would put captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit’s life in (more) danger

    In other news, former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon has stated that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is “no partner for peace” (couldn’t agree more) and the Second Lebanon War resulted from the Gaza disengagement (couldn’t agree more), while the new UN Envoy to the Middle East is very troubled by “the level of intra-Palestinian violence, but also by the Israeli attacks which I know have caused civilian deaths.” Apparently, the tens of Qassam rockets being launched against Israel do not trouble him.
     


    Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
     
    Latest updates here.
     
    10:15PM: I spoke too soon. Right after my last update, terrorists fired 4 Qassams into Israel. While no-one was injured or killed, there was a close call, as one of the Qassams landed in a yard and made a hole in an apartment’s wall.

    9:10PM: Since my last update, the IAF has struck a Hamas military post along the Gaza coast. Yes, I know, not much to report but that is definitely a good thing.

     
    2:33PM: More on Oshri Oz, the victim:
    oshri Blogging the Conflict: May 26th-27th, 2007The man, 36-year-old Oshri Oz of Hod Hasharon, crashed into the wall with his car after it was hit. He managed to get out of the vehicle and take a number of steps before collapsing. He was evacuated to the Barzilay Medical Center in Ashkelon, where he died of his wounds.
     
    Oz was a computer technician who used to visit Sderot often as part of his work. He was survived by his pregnant wife and a 2-year-old daughter.
    2:23PM: Today’s Qassam attack victim has been identified as Oshri Oz, 35, from Hod Hasharon. The Jerusalem Post reports that Oz’s wife found out about her husband’s death on the Internet, where she saw the footage of the Kassam landing near his car.
     
    Oy.
     
    Meanwhile via El Rejunte.il comes this picture of the previous victim of a Qassam attack, Shirel Friedman.
     
    shirel Blogging the Conflict: May 26th-27th, 2007
     
    12:36PM: Ha’aretz reports that the gunmen in last night’s East Jerusalem attack on security guards were Israeli residents.
     
    11:30AM: A 36-year-old man has been killed after a Qassam hit a car in Sderot. This is the second Israeli fatality since the recent onslaught of Qassams began almost two weeks ago (after a long period of constant Qassam fire, but on a less frequent basis).
     
    8:53AM: This morning, 2 Qassams hit Israel, one landing in Sderot causing property damage and the other near a kibbutz in the western Negev.
     
    Sunday May 27th
    —-
    10:45PM: A palestinian bystander has died of the wounds sustained after being shot by his terrorist brethren in the East Jerusalem attack. Meanwhile, these new details have come to light:
    The investigation into the incident revealed that the terrorists, armed with pistols, shot the Israelis on a trail leading to a nearby checkpoint. They were then shot by security personnel while attempting to flee the scene and died of their wounds a short time later.

    A Hizbullah-affiliated al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades cell claimed responsibility for the attack.

    10:36PM: